README

Content Freeze for Craft CMS 5

Content Freeze lets you temporarily pause content editing in the Craft control panel, so nothing changes in the CMS whilst you carry out work like moving hosting, migrating between environments, running a major update, or locking down ahead of a launch - all times when a stray edit could clash with your changes or be lost.

Schedule a freeze (now or for in the future) and the plugin moves the affected user groups into a view-only copy of their group, then restores them automatically when it lifts. Warn editors with a notice bar and pane, email them as it's scheduled, starts and ends, and optionally back up the database when it begins.

Features
Install
Requirements
Setup
Permissions
Console commands
Backups
Email notifications
Front-end templating
Supported Plugins
- Adding support for other plugins
Caveats
Support

Features

Multiple freezes - Create as many as you need, each with its own optional schedule (date from/to)
Scheduling - Freezes activate and lift automatically at their start/end times
Dashboard widget - Lists active and upcoming freezes
Notice bar - Show a bar at the top of the CMS while a freeze is active
Notice pane - Show a full-screen notice when users log in during a freeze
Custom notices - Set plugin-wide defaults, and optionally override the bar/pane per freeze
Database backups - Optionally queue a backup when a freeze becomes active
Email notifications - Optionally email affected users when a freeze is scheduled, becomes active and ends
Front-end variable - Block front-end actions while frozen with the craft.contentFreeze Twig variable
Permissions - Control access with the Access Content Freeze permission
Console commands - Trigger (enable) or lift (disable) freezes from the command line by ID

Install

Install with Composer via composer require bymayo/content-freeze from your project directory
Enable / Install the plugin in the Craft Control Panel under Settings > Plugins
Follow the Setup instructions below

You can also install the plugin via the Plugin Store in the Craft Admin CP by searching for Content Freeze.

Requirements

Craft CMS 5.x
PHP 8.2
MySQL (No PostgreSQL support)

Setup

While a freeze is in effect, the plugin moves your editors into a view-only user group, then moves them back when it lifts.

Sort your content editors into user groups.
Go to Content Freeze in the CP nav and click New freeze.
Use the Clone button to make a view-only copy of a group (you'll be prompted to name it).
For each group, choose a Move Users To group and toggle Enabled (skip groups that don't need CP access, e.g. Customers).
Set the freeze's Enabled toggle, and optionally a Date From / Date To - leave either blank for an open-ended start or end.
Optionally override the notice bar/pane for this freeze under Notices.

Plugin-wide settings are edited under Settings → Plugins → Content Freeze. To set them in code instead, copy the plugin's src/config.php to config/content-freeze.php.

Permissions

Access to the Content Freeze section is controlled by the Access Content Freeze permission (under Settings → Users → [group/user] → Permissions). Admins always have access.

Two actions require additional Craft permissions, so a non-admin can't use the plugin to grant other users access they don't already control:

Cloning a view-only group requires the Manage user groups permission.
Choosing a Move Users To target requires permission to assign users to that group - only groups you're allowed to assign appear in the dropdown. (Moving users into a group grants them that group's permissions, so this prevents privilege escalation.)

Console commands

# Reconcile the freeze state for the current time (use on a cron - see below)
php craft content-freeze/run

# List every freeze with its id, status and window
php craft content-freeze/freezes/list

# Trigger (enable) a freeze by id, applied immediately
php craft content-freeze/freezes/enable <id>

# Lift (disable) a freeze by id, applied immediately
php craft content-freeze/freezes/disable <id>

Freezes are applied on every CP request, but for scheduled freezes to activate/lift precisely at their start/end times - even when nobody is in the control panel - run the reconcile command on a schedule:

* * * * * php craft content-freeze/run
* * * * * php craft queue/run

The queue/run line ensures the queued user moves actually execute (Craft also runs the queue automatically on web requests).

Backups

Enable Back Up Database on Freeze (under Settings → Plugins → Content Freeze, or backupOnFreeze in config.php) to queue a database backup when a freeze becomes active. Saved to storage/backups; database only (not files).

Email notifications

Turn on Notify Users by Email on a freeze to email the affected users (in the frozen groups, with CP access) when it's scheduled, when it starts, and when it ends.

Edit the wording under Utilities → System Messages ({{ name }}, {{ description }}, {{ dateFrom }}, {{ dateTo }} and {{ user }} are available).

Front-end templating

A craft.contentFreeze Twig variable is available in your front-end templates, so you can react to a freeze being in effect - for example hiding a form, disabling add-to-cart, or showing a message. It's time-based, so it's accurate without any control-panel activity.

Is a freeze currently in effect?

{% if craft.contentFreeze.enabled %}
    <p>Editing is paused while a content freeze is in effect.</p>
{% endif %}

Hide a form / block an action while frozen:

{% if not craft.contentFreeze.enabled %}
    <form method="post">
        {# ...contact form, comment form, etc. #}
    </form>
{% else %}
    <p>Submissions are temporarily paused.</p>
{% endif %}

Stop purchases (Commerce):

{% if craft.contentFreeze.enabled %}
    <button disabled>Checkout unavailable during freeze</button>
{% else %}
    <a href="{{ cart.getCheckoutUrl() }}">Checkout</a>
{% endif %}

Show the freeze window / details:

{% set range = craft.contentFreeze.dateRange %}
{% if craft.contentFreeze.enabled %}
    {% if range.from %}<p>Frozen from {{ range.from|datetime('short') }}</p>{% endif %}
    {% if range.to %}<p>Editing resumes {{ range.to|datetime('short') }}</p>{% endif %}
{% endif %}

{# Loop the active freezes for names/dates #}
{% for freeze in craft.contentFreeze.freezes %}
    <li>{{ freeze.name }}{% if freeze.dateTo %} - until {{ freeze.dateTo|datetime('short') }}{% endif %}</li>
{% endfor %}

Available on craft.contentFreeze:

Property/method	Returns	Notes
`craft.contentFreeze.enabled`	`bool`	True if any freeze is in effect right now
`craft.contentFreeze.freezes`	`Freeze[]`	The freezes currently in effect (see below)
`craft.contentFreeze.dateRange.from`	`DateTime` or `null`	Earliest start across active freezes
`craft.contentFreeze.dateRange.to`	`DateTime` or `null`	Latest end across active freezes

Each freeze in .freezes exposes:

Property	Returns	Notes
`freeze.name`	`string`	The freeze name
`freeze.description`	`string`	The freeze description (may be empty)
`freeze.dateFrom`	`DateTime` or `null`	Start date, or `null` if open-ended
`freeze.dateTo`	`DateTime` or `null`	End date, or `null` if open-ended
`freeze.enabled`	`bool`	Whether the freeze is enabled
`freeze.status`	`string`	`active`, `scheduled`, `ended` or `disabled`
`freeze.startsIn`	`string` or `null`	Human-readable countdown to start (scheduled freezes)
`freeze.endsIn`	`string` or `null`	Human-readable countdown to end (active freezes)

Supported Plugins

When cloning a view-only group, these plugins' view/read/access permissions are kept (anything that can edit is dropped):

Craft Commerce
- accessplugin-commerce
- commerce-manageorders
Solspace Freeform
- accessplugin-freeform
- freeform-formsaccess
- freeform-submissionsaccess
- freeform-submissionsread
- freeform-notificationsaccess
Verbb Formie
- accessplugin-formie
- formie-accessforms
- formie-accesssubmissions
- formie-accesssentnotifications
Verbb Comments
- accessplugin-comments
nystudio107 SEOmatic
- accessplugin-seomatic
- seomatic:dashboard
Verbb Navigation
- accessplugin-navigation

Adding support for other plugins

Any plugin's view/read/access permissions can be preserved by adding their handles to the viewOnlyKeepPermissions array in config/content-freeze.php (lowercase). You can find the exact handles under Settings → Users → [group] → Permissions. For example:

'viewOnlyKeepPermissions' => [
    'accessplugin-myplugin',
    'myplugin-viewsomething',
],

Caveats

Admins aren't restricted. Craft's admin flag grants full access regardless of user group, so admins can still edit during a freeze. Make sure anyone who edits content is in a user group, not just flagged as an admin.
User groups are required. Freezing works by swapping users between groups, so your editors need to be organised into user groups.
The view-only clone is a snapshot. Clone copies a group's view permissions as they are at that moment - if you change the original group's permissions later, re-clone to pick them up.
One target group per source. A "Move Users To" group can only belong to one source group, so give each frozen group its own view-only group.
Scheduling needs cron for exact timing. Without content-freeze/run on a cron, scheduled freezes activate and lift on the next control-panel request rather than precisely on time.
User moves run on the queue. Make sure your queue is running, or there may be a delay before users are actually moved when a freeze starts or ends.

Support

If you have any issues (Surely not!) then I'll aim to reply to these as soon as possible. If it's a site-breaking-oh-no-what-has-happened moment, then hit me up on the Craft CMS Discord - @bymayo

bymayo / content-freeze

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